Railway-station indicator



(No Model.) P PRICE RAILWAY STATION INDICATOR.

Patented Nov. 6, 1883.

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.UNITED STATES PATENT PARKER PRICE, or SANDY RUN, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY-STAT! ON IN D I CATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 288,112, dated November 6, 1883.

' Application filed September 8, 1883. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PARKER PRICE, 9. citizen of the United States, residing at Sandy Run, in the county'of Luzerne and State of Penn sylvania, have invented certain new and use ful- Improvements in. Railroad-Station Indicators; and I do declare the following to be' a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in. the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to'the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of ref; erence marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a representation of an-interior view of the rollers, tape, and operating mechanism. Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the upper, outer, and inner roller and the operating mechanism. Figs. 2, 3, and 5 are sectional detail views. 7

This invention has relation to railroad-station indicators; and it consists in "the construction and novel arrangement of devices,

as will be hereinafter fully described; and particularly pointed out in the claims appended.

'Itei'erring by letter to the accompanying drawings, A. designates the case or cabinet containing the two outside rollers, B B, and

the two rollers C G, working inside or within the rollers B B; On one of the outer rollers,

. B B, a tape, with the names of the railroadstations along the road between given points printed thereon or otherwise affixed thereto,

. to drown the voice of the conductor or brakeman, and, in addition to this, very few of the persons detailed to perform this duty articulate distinctly; hence many mistakes and much confusion result from the present system. In my improvement the cabinet is placed in the front of the car, or one may be placed at each end of the car,to save turning the car or causing the passengers to turn in their seats to see the name of the station displayed.

Agong may be struck to attract the passenger s notice, or the name may be called at the time it is displayed by the conductor or brakeman or other attendant. Two outer rollers are used, in order that the printed tape may be wound from one to the other to displaythe station in proper succession on both the outgping and incoming trips. The inside rollers, G O, are fixed to the shafts D D.

At one end the outside rollers or hollow cylinders, B B, have friction-faces F F at tached thereto, their opposite ends being provided with peripheral grooves F F, for the reception of the arms I I, hinged to the inner ends of the sliding rods L L. These sliding or push rods L L are seated in bearings L L, secured to the upper and lower walls of the cabinet above and below the hollow cylinders 0r opter rollers, D D, and extend outside of the end wall of the cabinet at one end, and are provided'with knobs S and T. The arms I I are i'ulcrumed in bearings I I, projecting inwardly from the end wall of the cabinet at that end, and are held in their normal position by springs K K. Springs K K, at the other end walhbear against the sliding rods I I, and hold them in their normal positions. In place of the flat curved springs K K, I may use spiral springs K K connected to the end wall of the cabinet, and to the arms I I" between their fulcral bearings, as shown.

On one end of the inside rollers, O G, are the ratchet-wheels L L", the inner faces of the disks E E carrying the pawls a a and springs b b. The opposite faces of the disks E E are provided with stops N near their peripheries. Between the disks E E are the friction-brakes O O, for regulating the movements of the same. The brakes have stems 0 O, which are encircled by a spiral spring, 0 which bears against the shoulders of the brakes and holds their faces in engagement with the disks.

Another form of friction-brakes is shown in Fig. 5. It consists of anearly V-shaped spring, 1?, the arms of which are curved outwardly, to form the bearing-surfaces of the brakes. This spring P is secured at its middleportion to a bearing, I connected to the case between the disks.

At their other ends the inside rollers, O G, are providedwith the main or driving springs MM. These springs M M are coil-springs, and are connected to the cabinet and shafts D D, so that they may be wound byakey to impart motion to the rollers at the proper times. The disks E E also have friction-faces F F opposite the friction-faces F F of the rollers 13 B.

G G are catches pivoted in bearings G G, extending inwardly from the end of the case. These catches G Gare provided with handles R R, which project through openings in the end of the case; Springs H H hold the points of the catches normally in engagement with the faces of the disks in line with the stops N.

The sliding rods I I are provided within.- clined stops J J, which are arrangedto engage inclined projections J J on the inside of the top and bottom walls of the cabinet.

The operation of the device is quite simple. The spring M of the roller 13 or B, .on which the tape is to be wound, (itbeing already wound upon the other roller,) is wound up with the key; Both springs M may be wound at the same time, if desired; but it is only necessary to use one ata time. Then, by pressing the knob S or T, as the case may be, the frictionfaces F F of the rollers B B and the frictionfaces of the disks E E will be brought together and locked in position by the stops and projections J J. The friction-faces of the other roller and disk remain apart while these are engaged. The disk E is turned by the spring M, which in turn turns the roller B or B, and the tape is wound, the catch G stopping at N. This is repeated for each station until the train has made its outward trip. wound for the return-trip, and thenames of the stations are displayed in their reverse order.

The other roller is a shaft having bearings in the end walls of a cablnet and an outer or encircling cylinder or roller having a friction-face on one end and a friction-groove near'the other end,with adisk having an opposingfriction-face, a spring-pawl and ratchet onits adjacent face, and a series of stops near its periphery on the other face, a sliding and locking rod for bringingthe disk and outer cylinder into contact and holding them locked, and a spring-stop catch and an operating-spring for moving and stopping the rollers and disk when in engagement, substantially as specified.

2. In a station-indicator for passenger-cars, the combination, with the rollers having the friction-grooves near one of their ends, and mechanism for rotating them, of the sliding push-rods having pivoted arms which engage the friction-grooves for sliding the rollers into engagement with their respective disks E E, and springs for holding the disks and rollers out of engagement, and inclined stops on the push-rods, and inclined projection on the cabinet-walls, to lock the rollers and disks in engagement, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PARKER PRICE.

Witnesses:

D. G. Bnnrsorr, 'B. F. Ennrson.

. 45 1. The combination of an inner roller upon 

